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+
+                     ngIRCd - Next Generation IRC Server
+                           http://ngircd.barton.de/
+
+               (c)2001-2024 Alexander Barton and Contributors.
+               ngIRCd is free software and published under the
+                   terms of the GNU General Public License.
+
+                            -- HowToRelease.txt --
+
+
+I. Introduction
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Creating a new ngIRCd release requires a few steps to follow: the source
+tree must be in a releasable state (be up to date, include all required
+patches, be tested on as many platforms as possible), a name for the new
+release must be chosen, and all the files describing the release must be
+updated accordingly.
+
+Since ngIRCd release 13 (2009-12-25) we use "simple" release numbers for
+major releases (e.g. "13", "17", "42", ...) introducing new features and
+sub-releases for bug fixes only (e.g. "14.1", "22.3", ...).
+
+When creating pre-releases or release candidates, please use the tilde ("~")
+character to separate the "postfix" in the release number (e.g. "17~rc2"
+or "123.4~rc6").
+
+The release/version number of a build is automatically generated using the
+GIT "describe" command, see git-describe(1). Therefore it is required that
+a new release is tagged in the GIT tree and that the configure script is
+up-to-date (e.g. using ./autogen.sh) before generating the archives!
+
+
+II. How to prepare a new ngIRCd release?
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+a) Make sure you have working versions of GNU autoconf and GNU automake
+   installed on the system you use for generating the release:
+   as of May 2020 we are using GNU autoconf 2.69 and GNU automake 1.11.6
+   which seem to work just fine.
+   NOTE: new releases of GNU automake DO NOT work, as they lack support for
+   the "ansi2knr" wrapper and "de-ANSI-fication" support!
+
+b) Make sure the source tree is in a releasable state ;-)
+    - Are all branches & patches merged? Check GitHub issues, pull requests
+      and milestones!
+    - Run as many tests as you can!
+    - Is the AUTHORS.md file up to date? This command may be helpful:
+      "( grep '>$' AUTHORS.md; git shortlog -se|cut -c8-|sed 's/^/- /' ) \
+        | grep -Ev '(alex@barton.de|fw@strlen.de)' \
+        | LC_ALL=de_DE.UTF-8 sort -u"
+
+c) Update the files describing the new release:
+    - ChangeLog
+    - NEWS
+
+d) Update the version numbers in the following files:
+    - contrib/de.barton.ngircd.metainfo.xml
+    - contrib/ngircd.spec
+
+e) Generate a new Debian change log entry in the following file, e.g. using
+   the Debian "dch" tool of the "devscripts" package:
+    - contrib/Debian/changelog
+
+f) Commit the above changes to GIT: "git add", "git commit"
+
+g) Create a new signed GIT tag for the new release: "git tag -s".
+   Please note that we don't use the tilde ("~") here, instead use a simple
+   hyphen ("-") as delimiter: e.g. "rel-16" "rel-17-rc1", "rel-18-pre2", ...
+
+h) Run "./autogen.sh" to update the ./configure script with the correct
+   release number (autogenerated using "git describe", see above).
+
+i) Run "./configure" to rebuild all generated Makefiles.
+
+j) Run "make distcheck" (and "make dist-tarZ && make dist-xz") to generate all
+   of the distribution archives.
+
+k) Sign the distribution archive(s) using GnuPG: "gpg -b <archivefile>"
+
+l) Upload and distribute the newly generated ngIRCd release archive(s)
+   and GnuPG signatures (to the website, its mirrors, and GitHub).
+
+m) Update the ngIRCd website and its mirrors!
+
+n) Write an announcement to the mailing list, Twitter, ...
+
+o) Relax :-)